Eclipse of Smoke End.

Their eyes met.

Those scarlet eyes and black hair, nonetheless a human, belonged to non-other than Celena Hesper; Someone who Shugel had no idea about, someone who had invoked more questions than the answers till now.

Celena Hesper, who had introduced herself as the princess of sapian kingdom, was someone his mind could not stop wondering about ever since he saw her.

Considering how she had not exposed him, not only that but asked for his safety, it was pretty obvious why he felt grateful for the moment of certainty that she had given him.

Who would have believed him if he had said he was from another world? He could easily tell 'no one'. He could easily be labelled as some infiltrator and get executed or interrogated.

Shugel was under the assumption that there was some reason behind why she had vouched for him. He could form many assumptions as to why all this had happened but at some point they all would fail in their logic.

The only one who could answer all this was Celena Hesper, who was standing in front of Shugel, on the other side of the iron bars.

The silence that had fallen once her footsteps had stopped was even quieter than absense of sound, had his mind forgotten about other senses except sight? Soon as he realized the unnoticed silence sound came back as he broke the eye contact.

"I don't know who you are, and what you are doing here." Said Celena as she looked over him, the prisoner who was sitting on the ground. she narrowed her eyes before continuing, "Isn't it better if you just tell me all you are planning?"

Planning? At those words Shugel wished to scream, 'I don't even know what this place is, do you seriously think I am in condition to plan anything!?', but that obviously wasn't what she wanted to hear.

Shugel was pretty sure Celena had some motive behind saving him, it would have been more correct if the one asking these questions was him not her.

But here she was asking the questions he had no idea about how to answer.

But again answering her was only option which he could see, "Look, I am not planning anything. It would have been better you had asked me this when the truth seal was placed on me, atleast you would believe me when I say I have no plans."

Shugel was right, if Celena had asked all her questions back in the court, then atleast there would have been no room for doubt. He could have even proved that he had come from another world... But here there was no truth seal

"It's still some time before the seal's mana completely drains out. Though you won't die you may experience other kind of physical pain." Celena explained, it was as if she wanted this to happen.

"What do mean..."

"It's quite simple actually, your mana has fused with seal's mana, and until it fully fades you can't lie to me, I will know if you do. Seeing you are able to answer without any kind of pain or fluctuations in your mana signature, I believe you." Celena pointed at Shugel's heart, which was pierced by the queen's mana earlier in the court.

"Let's see. your name is Shugel. You were found unconscious and in almost dieing condition in teleportation Labrinth. Though there are some discrepancy in the information till now, the fact that you are is atleast true." Celena put held her chin as she stated all the information that she had gathered till now.

Shugel listened to her silently.

"Then the rumour that you have black hair spread like wild fire amongst the people. Plus you refused to tell about yourself to the others until the truth seal was placed on you. Your situation is quite complex many things are just not logically posible unless you are... " Celena voice grew quieter at the end, she didn't finish her sentence.

What was stopping her to finish her sentence? Shugel moved closer to the bar, squinting his eyes, he waited for her to continue, "Who are you talking about."

Celena had already pointed that Shugel ticked all the boxes to be labelled as suspicious or mysterious, but it seemed like she had already found a reason for why all this seemed so weird.

It was as if Celena knew why Shugel was raising suspicion in everyone's mind. And that 'why' was something Shugel had no idea about.

Celena hesitated to speak, clearly she felt conflicted about something, but slowly she, "How are you connected to... Qu—" she couldn't force the name out, it was as if she realised something at the very end, her concious stopped her.

"Just who are are you taking about?"

"It's better if I don't speak her name. I have no idea about how you are connected to her, but any other possibility else does not make any sense. Your mana signature, your physical features everything speaks for itself. There is a reason why we cannot speak about her, if you are sent by her you already know. I hope you find your answers."

Shugel was left unuttered, Celena had spoken something that had completely made his brain stop thinking for a second.

Who was she talking about, why was she all of a sudden so sure about his identity. No, more like she believed that there was no other way that someone like Shugel had went unnoticed for all this years he had been on this planet.

who could have told her that Shugel was not even from this world.

Looking at each other Celena was sure, Shugel was not much younger than her.

Shugel prepared his throat to say it, he didn't want to fall into a deeper rabbit hole by holding on to the lies when he had chance to say the truth.

"Princess Celena there are many questions I wanna ask but before that I need to tell you something." Celena eyes looked curious as Shugel spoke, she nodded.

"Is the truth seal still active?"

"Yess"

"I want you keep me safe as long as I don't pose any harm to you, can you promise me that?"

"What specifically do you mean by that?"

"I just want you to keep me safe and let me return with you."

Celena nodded, and said " I promise."

Shugel let off all the tension in his lungs, and with almost whispering tone.

"The truth is I am actually not from this—"

*What is this freaking pain!?* All of a sudden his body felt intense pain. Hot hot hot hot hot his whole body was burning, from tip of his toe to strands of hair he was burning.

He had lost his balance and fallen on the ground, in his peripheral he could tell the princess was trying to tell him something... "...Idiot...deathwish....room... Meet...out...!?&...???...." His mind could not catch anymore words as the pain had already shot upto an unbearable level.

He could feel his organs melt, a

He could feel his skill melt... But why wasn't he dieing? It felt strange...

*Don't tell me...the truth...se--.*

He didn't know when his eyes went completely black, his body lost consciousness soon after every drop of his body was drained of pain.

___

He always believed in the saying, 'a man can handle anything.', but after what he had just experienced he would think otherwise.

"Just how many hours was I laying unconscious?"

Wait! now that I think about it, I have probably surpassed my life time record of falling unconscious in just one day.

He didn't know if he should be feeling proud or concerned about it.

Only some minutes had passed after Shugel had gain consciousness after falling unconscious from extreme pain,

caused by the triggering of the truth seal—atleast that's what he assumed.

Obviously, the princess was no longer there when his eyes opened. "Oh, looks like' the fool is alive." That's what person who was standing in the place of princess celena said. It kinda made Shugel think if he was tricked by an imposter earlier, but the person cleared that he did need to worry. The person was sent to look after him.

Though, Shugel had been considering that person to be a 'him' from how that person looked—like a common soldier. But it was hard to make out much details about how the person looked as the light was poor. But that also made him wonder exactly how many hours had passed?

"Probz, six hourz ?"

*What with that accent!?* Shugel prodded.

This person did had a kind of 'z'ish way of pronouncing certain words. No, Shugel did not even understood how he was able to communicate in another world's language, he should be grateful that atleast he was able to understand the language.

"Six hours... I see."

*what the hell is wrong with me!? That can literally be passed of as sleep no one would even notice.*

"You look prettzy calm, but I guess you smell says something different altogether." The person commented.

"What exactly do you mean by smell?"

"Anyways, let me reintroduce myself. I am Dae Gaur, my services are only devoted to princess laya, and as per her request I am here to save you."

*Save? Like 'save' save? From what? how?*

Shugel was not convinced more so he was suspicious of this person—Dae Gaur—just what exactly was he implying.

Dae sensed this and elaborated, "I am here keep an eye on you and azzizt you with any reazonable demands you may have."

Why did that last part sounded sexual?

Shugel ignored this and came to the point—even though he felt a bit assaulted by the way it was said—, "and what is your definition of reasonable?"

"Are you trying to hit on me!?"

What the fu..!?

"Shut up! I don't hit on man!! What the hell is wrong with you."

"But I am girl."

"I don't care!"

Wait, what? A girl...

This person had pretty thick voice for a girl, but Shugel could not believe, until the person took the mashal from the back, and brought it in front of their face. Shugel could see it, the genderless feminine face of hers, she had brown-orange hued hair and sharp eyes, her ears were round and her hair ends touched her neck, she had short hair.

Wait, was she also human? A sudden thought crossed his mind. It was possible, but Shugel did want to come to conclusions until she herself said it.

"Are you a sapian too?"

"No, I am not, think about it why would a human work for the elvian royal family?" She said in a husky voice, now that Shugel was forced to believe her, he could see the feminine quality of her voice. It was as if she was forcing her voice to be thicker, but the actual tone of her voice leaked constantly when she spoke.

"I am not in any position to think about that."

Hearing this Dae giggled, "You are half right and half wrong. I am partially human, beyond that you are free to imagine."

"Well then, tell me what is 'reasonable'?"

Dae, looked at the mashal in her hand and smiled slightly, "That'z all I am suppozed to zay."

Shugel sighed, "Just how long do I have to stay here?"

"Until all your mana is drained out of your body."

"And how long will that take?"

There was no reply, Dae refused to answer or even intract with him any further.

"Hey! are you listening?" There was no point trying, she was completely ignoring him.

"Reasonable... Huh"

___

Save him. What did she meant by that? as far as he remembered he had asked for protection from Celena, but princess Laya just who was that? Then all of a sudden, a face popped up in his head.

"Hey, listen to me, you said as long as you said reasonable right!?"

"Yezz I said that."

"Then tell me, the one who sent you here, princess laya, is close to princess Celena, right."

"I can't tellz you that, I was only told to assizt you."

*This bi...*

*How else can she assist me other than answering my questions!?*

He gave up. Why were these people playing mind games with him? He did didn't understand. But then he looked at the figure of Dae standing next the wall.

Princess Laya was most probably the mist haired girl who was holding Celena's hand out of concern. The daughter of the queen.

Thinking about how both of them exchanged looks like they were close. And going by that logic and considering how princess laya was only one who had authority after King and Queen, he could say how Dae was connected to Celena's promise.

Though it was hard to assume, it looked like Celena was keeping her promise. If why Dae was sent here was related to the promise then, it was pretty clear what 'reasonable' meant, anything which didn't harm Celena or anyone else.

Shugel sighed, all this made sense now.

"You are the one who determines if what I am doing is 'reasonanble' or not. Dar Gaur." He stressed her name to make her notice.

"You are correct." Dae chuckled, and with a satisfied look, as if she was waiting for him to figure it out, she continued "I was asked to escort you to princess, once you break out the this place."

*Break out?*

Suddenly, the image of Celena popped in his mind. When the Truth seal had been triggered, and Shugel was in extreme sensory pain, Celena was saying something to him, he only managed to make out few words before his mind was completely overwhelmed by nothing but burning pain.

Just what did she say, he couldn't remember. What he did remember was like reading something in dream, you know you read something, but what?

But why would she wait for him to break out? Wasn't that but contrary to not causing any turmoil.

*Wait a minute, no one told me how much time it takes for someone's mana to be completely drained.*

Then there was the question of what will happen if complete mana was drained form someone's body.

*Wait, but other than the mana from truth seal, there isn't any mana in my body. I wasn't even born in this world, so it won't make any sense for me to have mana.*

There was no way he could confirm if he had any mana or not. As far as he knew, atleast he couldn't produce any light from his body. Calling it light seemed weird but it was also true that he had not even shown any sign of magic.

There was no other way, should he try asking? Dae had refused to answer his questions till now, what were the chances that she would now? Probably non, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Dae, if you can't tell me about the time it would take for mana to completely drain out of my body then, just tell me how to fasten the process."

Dae's expression became stern, as if suspicious of something, before Shugel could understand what he had said wrong, she replied, "I am not sure, if you're trying to test me or something, but watch your lips."

Shugel noticed that for a while now her accent had drastically changed and her tone had become bit distant, or as if she had dropped her friendly facade—eversince she had revealed her true purpose.

Just what had he said to alarm her, it was not even a drastic change. He didn't understand, but it would've been better if he could have passed it off as a joke.

It looked like they all had assigned Shugel with a role which he had no idea about.

"Sorry, I was joking but if you—"

"Oh! My bad my bad! I have a bad habit of slipping into my old job personality." She interrupted scratching her head, it felt as if there was sudden chance in mood, and it made his gut sinkingly uncomfortable.

What was this woman? It was as if he was talking to someone completely different a moments before and now her old personality was back.

But he preferred this Dae better, atleast for now.

He decided it wasn't safe for him to ask anything to her for now.

"I have a request then, don't disturb me unless it's necessary." Shugel managed to utter those few words before he went to darkest edge of the chamber.

He could see the silhouette of Dae light from here but, he was pretty sure no one would be able to see him form there.

In the manaless chamber, Shugel had chosen to assume that there was mana within his body. It didn't matter whose mana it was; what mattered was that this prison gate would only open if his body contained no mana. Based on the repeated explanations he had received so far and the name of the chamber, he was confident that this was indeed the situation.

'I don't have any idea about how but, If I can sense and force any mana out of my body, I may be able to break out of here faster.'

But how, that was the main question that plagued him. It seemed there was no other way but to do trial and error with everything he knew about mana from fantacy books he had read back then in his own world.

There had been some similar concepts of ki, chakra and other energy in human

body that could be utilised at a higher level to keep your body healthy and strong. They were mastered through meditation and diligent practice over the year. Though it was not like anyone could just perform magic with that.

But meditation was the key, Shugel tried to focus as he closed his eyes.

There was a starge feeling in his sternum, it was very faint and events till now had made him forget of that feeling, but now when he was trying to focus, the strange sensation in his sternum became more noticeable. It was no physical pain, rather something different, he tried to focus on it more, his closed eyes and amplified the darkness outside, it was scary but suddenly he could see a faint green light attached to a faint white light like orb—he had no idea how much time had passed.

It was as if looking at a dark abyss like void inside himself, and in that complete utter darkness were tiny spirit like orbs floating. The more he focused, the more the image became clear. It was strange, he felt no excitement, nothing. It was just his awareness looking at the light particles slowly being pushed to the 'what seemed to be the edges of edgeless, horizonless, ever spreading darkness'—probably that's what they called mana— and fading into nothingness.

There was a black void somewhere in middle, it felt as if it was centre of everything but why was it black?

'Can I force them out?'

Shugel started focusing on the particles,

as he imagined a pushing force from the very core of the void. The mana particles slowly started to moving towards the edge. If he could maintain this he would...

"Hey, dude wake up, the queen has summoned every prisoner in the court."

What when did I fall asleep?

He seemed to wonder, what happened to—

Why was a person waking him up? No, that was not the problem, but rather why was the person inside the manaless chamber.

Suddenly, Shugel sight went to the broken gate of the chamber—the gate made of mysterious rods—He couldn't believe what he just saw.

'Does that mean'

"Though I have no idea how you managed to break out of the manaless chamber so fast but, hurry up!"

The person looked to be in his mid thirties, rough and shabby. Which reminded him, wasn't there someone else here last night?

"What happened to the gaurd who was standing here..." Shugel asked, his voice still bit weak.

"What are you talking about boy, there was no gaurd here last night. No one would risk being here more than few minutes." The man scoffed off Shugel's question as completely absurd.

And Shugel did not find any confidence to ask any further.

"Now, stand up!"

Shugel was hand cuffed with some kind of chain before being lead to the royal court.

The mood was very off, it seemed as if something very urgent was going to take place. Everyone was moving from one place to other, every knight and shoulder seemed busy and alert.

After crossing several small halls, and a grand hall, as soon as he crossed the large pillar he could see a large number of criminals lined in the court, with their head down.

Shugel was made to stand along side those criminals, there were around hundreds of criminals. He looked around trying to guess the accurate number. But soon after noticing a strange glare from one of the knights he awkwardly lowered his gaze and looked in front of him.

There were all sorts of criminals from what little glimpse he had gotten, not of one kind but very different, some looked like monsters, some looked very sick and old.

The criminals where not limited to one species too.

Strangely enough, there were many people from the kindom sitting on edges to be witness to the court or something else.

They were quietly murmuring to each other, it was as if even they did not know what was happening.

His gaze went to the top of the stairs, there standing at the center was someone with overwhelming aura— equivalent to a king but it was feminine. The Queen stood there in front of the throne, covering her mouth with a fan.

Shugel had no idea what was going on, he searched for the figure of Celena up there, and his eyes met with the black haired princess standing next to her mist haired princess friend.

Anyone would say they looked very pretty together, when looked from afar.

As for close, he had no idea.

But the atmosphere and there faces and even the aura communicated something totally different. The atmosphere was tense.

That's when queen moved the fan away from her mouth, "My childrens today I must be strong as your mother, to a king his kingdom is like family, and as a queen I believe the same." Said the queen.

Everyone seemed to cheer up, excluding the criminals and few people on the top, on hearing their queen speak.

The queen had been sick. For her to speak directly to all of them, it made everyone feel really ecstatic and loved.

But soon the cheer dropped silent as slowly everyone noticed the tension in the atmosphere. It was dense.

The queen then spoke, " THE KING HAS BEEN KILLED." It was bold and clear, no one knew how to react.

"The person who has killed the king is standing amongt us, and he is not going to escape." The queen proclaimed.

Shugel— no everyone started to looked around at each other, it was clear everyone was very nervous and scared.

An unknown threat, which had also killed their king was standing amongst them.

"IF YOU REVEAL YOURSELF, I PROMISE TO KEEP YOUR JUDGMENT LESS PAINFUL."

Why would anyone reveal themselves after killing the king, if someone had managed to kill the king Shugel was pretty sure they would surely possess the ability to run away too.

Moments passed no one came out and said 'I am the killer.' and then after enough patience which she had managed to muster up till now she continued.

"If you are not going to reveal yourself then, I have no choice but to—"

Suddenly, Shugel saw something. His eyes, which had met with Celena's wide extremely scared eyes, realized something ominous was just seconds away.

Every second felt like a minute.

Then all of a sudden same expression on every other's eyes in front of him, the queen too had dark expressions.

That's when he saw it, a strange twisted smile form on queen's face, which went unnoticed by even the gods, only he saw it before everything went blank.

There was huge blinding flash, before he died.

Everyone in the vicinity saw Shugel head blown off by a hot flash of light, strong enough that there was nothing left in the place where there was Shugel's head just moments ago. No one had time to response. Before many even could notice, there was a huge thundering sound, caused by the difference in speed of sound and light, that resounded in the royal court.

Shugel's head less body crashed onto the floor lifeless, the blood pierced the burned skin of his neck artery as his blood painted the red carpet shade of blood.

Where did the light come from?

Everyone looked at the corpse of fallen human whose name only few knew.

The smoke still rising from the skin of what was left of his neck, torso and the dense hole like crater on stairs upfront.

—Shugel kasane was dead.